We've all read the catchy and shocking newspaper headlines when a serial killer is at large. Inevitably, the media tabloids will concoct a nickname that aptly describes the criminal's individual nefarious activities. When the strange and creepy nicknames are given to an unknown suspect they serve a purpose – they're the hook that keeps us interested and reading and returning for more! And for the purposes of the story, the more ghoulish and garish the better!

The nickname feeds into the public's vivid imagination. What reader wouldn't be chilled but fascinated by the soubriquets attached to "The Mutilator", "The Lipstick Killer" or "The Shoe Fetish Slayer"? They're gimmicky, they don't have to be accurate or clever, but they serve their purpose well.

And when they catch the public imagination, they are new story-story gold! These snappy, fast-track, headline-grabbing monikers feed the readers with revulsion and horror – but also their curiosity. But they can also create celebrity criminals, who themselves become keen to exploit their own notoriety in what they come to see as their life's work.

In an odd way, everyone's a winner – everyone, that is, except the killer's next unfortunate victim ...